FOOD FOR THOUGHT ONE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION

It’s one day until the election, and I can only hope that enough registered voters have faced the facts: the Republican nominee for President is a raging misogynist. From Megyn Kelly to Alicia Machado, it’s been clear from the beginning of this campaign that Donald Trump calls women names and judges their worth based solely on physical appearance. When that 2005 Access Hollywood tape broke a few weeks ago, Trump exposed himself to be even more deplorable than just a bona fide sexist. His inappropriate words are only the icing on the cake to a lifelong history of sexual predation.Despite what he might say, Trump has absolutely no respect for women. He doesn’t treat them with the decency and dignity that all human beings deserve. To Trump, women are objects, ready at his disposal to use and abuse. Take the way he gathered Bill Clinton’s assault victims and put them at the center of a farcical online press conference. Under the guise of providing these women a platform to share their stories, he exploited their pain and suffering for his own political gain. Also, consider the unwanted sexual advances Trump made about the twelve women who came forward to accuse him of sexual assault. Touching a woman without her consent is a truly degrading reduction of her being to body parts. All of Trump’s behavior, including calling his accusers liars and implying that they weren’t pretty enough for him to abuse, makes a mockery of sexual assault victims and perpetuates rape culture.Donald Trump boldly claiming his “great respect for women”.The popularity that launched Trump to secure a spot as a presidential candidate is a sad commentary on our country’s progress when it comes to gender equality. American women have fought for centuries to have equal rights to men, and progress has certainly has been made in our laws and culture. But Trump illuminates an undercurrent of deep-seated chauvinism that still exists in our society. The impediment to breaking the glass ceiling is that there are many people out there like Trump who think that gender is a hierarchy. That’s why Hillary Clinton, a woman whose accomplishments and credentials far exceed her opponent’s, is still subject to receiving cheap and disparaging insults like “such a nasty woman.” That phrase ignores all of her positive contributions to society as a lawyer, first lady, senator, and secretary of state. It says that simply by virtue of being a woman, her voice is inferior and shouldn’t be heard.As far as I see it, this election is an ideological battle. Does our country elect the first female president whose message is about embracing change and America’s increasing diversity or do we elect a man who will thwart our social progress? Our country is on the precipice of a major directional decision. The choice is clear to me, and I’ll certainly be voting tomorrow. I encourage everyone to do the same.